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    • Retiring RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki no longer attending international police conference

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    The retiring head of Canada’s national police force will no longer speak at an upcoming policing conference in Dubai.

    National RCMP media relations spokesperson Robin Percival says in an emailed update Lucki is no longer attending the event next week for “personal reasons," adding the decision was unrelated to recent media coverage.

    A post earlier this week on her official Twitter account indicated Lucki was to speak at the World Police Summit being held in Dubai from March 7 to 9 -- a week before her official retirement as commissioner on March 17.

    The event's website listed her as a featured speaker for two sessions. The first was a plenary session, titled “Commissioners Session: Trust, Fairness, and Resilience: The Evolving Dynamics of Police Leadership,” with a general focus on “choosing the next best officer to lead the force.”

    The other was a session on “Handling Mass Casualty Events.” According to the website, Lucki was the sole speaker for that particular event.

    Lucki’s tenure as Canada’s top cop has been controversial, facing criticism most recently for her handling of the police response during and after the Nova Scotia mass shooting in April 2020, and during the “Freedom Convoy” protests in Ottawa last year.

    Her retirement comes two weeks before the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission's final report into Nova Scotia’s 2020 tragedy, which will be made public at an event in Truro, N.S., on March 30.

    On Wednesday, former Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner and CTV public safety analyst Chris Lewis told CTV he thought the timing of her presentations missed the mark.

    “She’s not necessarily leaving on a high note, unfortunately, some of that probably unfairly earned and some of it maybe not,” he said.

    “But the bottom line is the RCMP response to the mass casualty wasn’t necessarily great, and that’s not always the fault of the commissioner, but she played a role in that, and there was a lot of issues there that ultimately she was criticized for.”

    “So, I don’t think it’s necessarily a good taste decision on her part,” Lewis added.

    However, former Nova Scotia RCMP Const. Brian Carter said she was only honouring an invitation to speak at the event, which was likely received a while ago.

    “From my own experience with respect to speaking at conferences, these things are pre-planned months in advance and the speakers are sought out," says Carter. "So, for the commissioner to be asked to this one in Dubai, she would have been asked and it would be part of her duty to do that.”

    There's no word yet if another representative from the RCMP will attend the summit in Lucki’s place.

    In the Feb. 15 statement announcing her retirement, Lucki said it was a “personal decision” to leave the force.

    “This was not an easy decision as I love the RCMP and have loved being the 24th commissioner," said Lucki.

    She said, as commissioner, she was asked to address the RCMP's “internal challenges” – a task she called “a significant mandate.”

    “I did my best,” the statement said.

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